Merven John "Red" Ryan (July 11, 1897 – August 16, 1969), born Mervin Ferguson, was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

. He played from 1915 to 1932 with several teams, playing mostly with the

Hilldale Club The Hilldale Athletic Club (informally known as Darby Daisies) were an American professional Negro league baseball, Negro league baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. Established as a boys team in 1910, the Hilldales we ...

Career

Ryan began his career with the Pittsburgh Colored Stars of Buffalo in 1915. He pitched for the

Lincoln Stars The Lincoln Stars are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL). The Stars' home ice is the Ice Box on the former Nebraska State Fair grounds and adjacent to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. History ...

in 1916 and

Brooklyn Royal Giants The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. ...

in 1919 before joining the

Bacharach Giants The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founding The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 an ...

in 1920. The Bacharch club faced both independent black teams in the summer of 1920 before taking part in the

Cuban League The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known a ...

season that winter. He also pitched for the Pittsburgh Colored Stars in September 1920. After playing for the Giants in 1921 and the

Harrisburg Giants The Harrisburg Giants were a U.S. professional Negro league baseball team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Originally formed in April 1890 by Colonel William "C.W." Strothers as an amateur team, they became semi-professional by 1894. They joined ...

in 1922, Ryan joined the

of the

Eastern Colored League The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, more commonly known as the Eastern Colored League (ECL), was one of the several Negro leagues, which operated during the time organized baseball was segregated. League history Founding The ECL ...

in 1923, for which he would spend at least part of eight of the next seasons with. Ryan pitched in the

1924 Colored World Series The 1924 in baseball, 1924 Colored World Series was a best-of-nine match-up between the Negro National League (1920–31), Negro National League champion Kansas City Monarchs and the Eastern Colored League champion Hilldale Club, Hilldale. In a te ...

, earning

no decision A no decision (sometimes written no-decision) is one of either of two sports statistics scenarios; one in baseball and softball, and the other in boxing and related combat sports. Baseball and softball A starting pitcher who leaves a game withou ...

s in both of appearances, as the club lost the

Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 193 ...

. He pitched a game in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

in the

1925 Colored World Series The 1925 Colored World Series was the second edition of the championship series in Negro league baseball. The series featured a rematch between the Hilldale Club of Darby, Pennsylvania, champion of the Eastern Colored League (ECL), and the Kansas ...

, with Hilldale beating the Monarhcs for the championship. Ryan briefly appeared for the independent

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 in sports, 1912 by Cumb ...

in the fall of 1927 before joining the

Lincoln Giants The Lincoln Giants were a Negro league baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930. Founding The Lincoln Giants can trace their origins back to the Nebraska Indians, of Lincoln, Nebraska, from the 1890s. According to Sol White ...

in early 1928. He was traded back to Hilldale early in the season for George Carr and

Nip Winters James Henry Winters, Jr. (April 29, 1899 – December 12, 1971), nicknamed "Nip" and "Jesse", was a pitcher in Negro league baseball, playing for many top eastern teams from 1920 to 1933, and considered one of the top left-handed pitchers of hi ...

before being traded to the

Baltimore Black Sox The Baltimore Black Sox were a professional Negro league baseball team active between 1913 and 1936, based in Baltimore, Maryland. Founding The Black Sox started as an independent team in 1913 by Howard Young. They were one of the original six ...

during the 1929 season. He pitched exclusively for the Lincoln Giants in 1930. In 1931, he pitched for the Harlem Stars before rejoining Hilldale later that year. Ryan was released by Hilldale in early 1932 and spent his final season with the

Newark Browns The Newark Browns were a Negro league baseball team in the East-West League, based in Bloomfield, New Jersey, in 1932. They played their home games at General Electric Field. 1932 season The Browns were the final team to join the East-West League ...

of the

East-West League East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

Personal life

Ryan was the son of John Ryan and Georgana Ferguson. He married Ramona Cortes on September 6, 1924 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

."New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:246C-V5T : 21 August 2022), Mervin J. Ryan and Ramona Cortes, 1924.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
1897 births 1969 deaths Hilldale Club players Lincoln Giants players Brooklyn Royal Giants players Newark Browns players Harrisburg Giants players Homestead Grays players Bacharach Giants players Baltimore Black Sox players 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball pitchers {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-stub